My First Gaming PC [Bf4 Ultra]

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Middle_LiBa

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I have been wanting to build a new gaming PC for a while now, and decided that this will be an ok time to do so (besides increased levels of static during winter, especially on my carpet floor). I was wondering if these parts would work together without bottlenecks/ space conflictions. Also, if there are any suggestions you can make about different parts, I would appreciate it.

Approximate Purchase Date: January

Budget Range: $780 After Rebates and Shipping

Main system usage: Gaming

Buying a monitor: No

Preferred Websites for Parts: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Dell, Gamestop (unless there is a significant price difference between that website and the cheapest website)

Location: Jefferson, GA

Parts Preferences: AMD (It seems like all of the Intel CPUs with the same performance as the fx-6300 cost way more)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Note: I already have a case I am going to use (although i don't use it currently). It has 11 inches video card clearance with 3.5'' drive bays and 17 inches without. If i take out the drive cage, I expect I would need adapters for the SSDs/HDDs to fit into the above bays.

Here are some pictures (I know it is a LITTLE dusty... it's pretty old but I plan on cleaning it out): Imgur

*** PART LIST ***

CPU: FX-6300 (plan to overclock to around 4.4 GHz)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+

Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600

Storage: 2x128 Gb MX100 2.5" SSD (In RAID 0) + 1 Tb Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200rpm

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR
**Edit** I hope to stay with a Radeon-chipset card in hopes of Alt-Coin mining

Power Supply: Corsair CX60CX (I dont know if this is good quality or enough wattage, please comment on it)

Total : $777.30
PC Partpicker

Also, after seeing my case, do you thing there will be enough airflow? I don't have space for liquid coolers, but I might be able to stick a high quality fan on the rear (although I don't know the speed/CFM of the current fans). Thank you for your help!
 
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Sata Express and M.2 use a completely different connection so no those SSD's would not fit them, besides with current SSD's they have a longer lifespan the most other PC components and will likely not need to be upgraded or replaced for quite a long time. The SuperNOVA is a good mid range power supply, many have had issues with it but I have not seen much instability in them. Just a front 120 and back 120 should be sufficient. An 80mm would just add unnecessary noise and does not provide enough airflow to justify the use.

One final note for SSD's the only viable reason to add more than one is to expand the total capacity you can store on them. In general one 256GB would more than cover most. Most games today load relatively quickly on...
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Rudy479908

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That'll play bt4 max settings, but think about the new battlefield or even gta 5 for pc. I would just get the fx 8350 instead of overclocking the fx 6300, but i've never owned a 6300 so i couldn't say if it sucks or not. I have a 6100 on this old system and boy o boy let me tell you i hated it.
 
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Xibyth

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Honestly, you don't need to RAID 0 SSD's, one nearly caps the bandwidth of the motherboards controller. I would put that money into getting an R9 290X, or some better cooling for your system. The CX series from corsair is considered bottom of the line for gaming rigs and not sufficient for overclocking or high end GPU's.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256102
The 290X takes nearly 250watts alone, adding to an overclocked CPU would stress anything under 700watts a little too far.
Your case is a bit dated as well, 80mm fans just don't have the airflow. Two 120mm fans would beat out 6 80mm fans. There are a lot of cheap cases with plenty of airflow and many under $50. You just don't put a Ferrari engine in a bug. I have been saying that too much lately.
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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$1 more, before rebates, than your system, but faster.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($325.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $820.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-18 10:27 EST-0500.

If you really want to deal with the gamble of MIR's

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($53.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($325.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $786.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-18 10:31 EST-0500
 
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Xibyth

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A great build but his cooling is still fairly limited even for an intel and Nvidia setup.
 
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Middle_LiBa

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How can you tell what the bandwidth of the motherboard controller is? What temperatures do you expect I would get with the current fans, and how much do you think it would help if I got a high performance rear exhaust fan or 120mm liquid cooling (if those exist)? One last question, would that PSU be you suggested be only if i upgraded to the 290x?
 
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Middle_LiBa

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I see that that CPU is 3.1 GHz Quad core, but is the price of Intel CPUs worth the performance? From my understanding, Intel ones have better single core performance, but are way overpriced (that CPU is 3.1 GHz while the FX-6300 is 3.5 while still having 2 more cores, higher core clocks, and $60 less). Also, I know I should have stated this in my post (sorry), I was hoping to stay with Radeon graphics for Alt-Coin mining. Other than that, I can use the rest of your suggestions. Do you think the PC would run too hot though?
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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You could overclock that FX 6300 to 4.5ghz, and it still wouldn't catch my i5 3570k at its stock 3.4ghz. To achieve such clock rates, the hardware necessary would negate the value of going with FX in the first place. FX 6300's direct competition is the i3 chips.
 
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Middle_LiBa

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The Intel CPU would only perform significantly better in single-threaded applications though, correct?

The only thing I am really going for with my CPU is for it to not bottleneck my GPU (unless there are better reasons to get a faster CPU which I don't know about)

Also, if I went with your build, would I be sacrificing a good motherboard/PSU for the CPU?
 
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Middle_LiBa

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Ok thanks for the cheaper yet better PSU.
So you think that that CPU would be worth its price? Take your time, I will be back in a few hours.
 
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Middle_LiBa

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Ok thanks, Ill look into getting one.
Do you agree with Xibyth when he said:



I asked him but he hasn't responded yet, so how can you tell what the bandwidth of the motherboard controller is? What temperatures do you expect I would get with the current fans, and how much do you think it would help if I got a high performance rear exhaust fan or 120mm liquid cooling (if those exist)?
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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I wouldn't raid SSD's unless getting two smaller drives, was cheaper than getting the single larger capacity you want, or doing professional work. Often I recommend 2x256gb MX100's over a Samsung 850 512gb, for those that are doing video editing and such for work related purposes.
 
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Xibyth

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The controller has a maximum bandwidth of 6Gbps, translated that means it can move ~600MB per second, the average ssd hits around 480. That offers very little improvement over base speed and leaves the controller with the extra stress of handling two drives and peaking its bandwidth can actually result in lower total performance. That 600MB is split in two when sending and receiving information from the drive. It also increases the chance of failure and requiring a wipe which reduces the lifespan of your SSD.

In that case a 290 will average about 75c under load at room temperature due to the lack of airflow. If you get a dual fan card it has to have plenty of exhaust flow and good intake. While this is considered safe over time your card will start to naturally generate more heat because of stretched voltage regulators. And the hotter it gets the sooner that happens. The sooner it happens the faster the card fails.

I was just throwing that power supply out as a general recommendation, for the 290 (non x) you could go for a 650watt PSU. I would really avoid poor power supplies if your going for a high end graphics card. If you look around the Graphics Card forum you will see how well that worked for others with the same idea.
 
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Middle_LiBa

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So just for curiosity, would I need a motherboard that had either SATA express or m.2 ports and would i need one for each SSD? Which 650 watt one would you recommend? Thanks for the advice, I understand what with the wife, work, and kid(s?).

**Also something I just realized, there is room for a 120mm instead of a 80mm on the front and room for another 80mm on the non-windowed side, so I might buy a 120mm and put it on the front while moving the front 80mm to the non-windowed side**
 
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Xibyth

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That fan setup could work. Be sure to put a 120 as exhuast and use an 80 on the side as exhuast as well. Just go for a 256GB SSD. There will not be any noticable difference for gaming. I use a single 120 GB for my OS and it boots in 8 seconds flat.
 
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Middle_LiBa

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Ok. So for the fans, use the front 120 as intake, back 120 as exhaust, windowed-side 80 intake, non-windowed side 80 exhaust? The non-windowed side 80 mm spot is near the front of the case (check the Imgur link at the top). How many fans will I have to plug into the PSU and which ones should I do so with? Also, about the PSU, would the EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750w be good?

I'm not going to do RAID 0, but if I upgraded to it sometime later in my life would I be able to use SATA Express/ M.2 with those SSDs?
 
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Xibyth

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Sata Express and M.2 use a completely different connection so no those SSD's would not fit them, besides with current SSD's they have a longer lifespan the most other PC components and will likely not need to be upgraded or replaced for quite a long time. The SuperNOVA is a good mid range power supply, many have had issues with it but I have not seen much instability in them. Just a front 120 and back 120 should be sufficient. An 80mm would just add unnecessary noise and does not provide enough airflow to justify the use.

One final note for SSD's the only viable reason to add more than one is to expand the total capacity you can store on them. In general one 256GB would more than cover most. Most games today load relatively quickly on 7200 RPM drives (~5 - 10 seconds on loading screen) and online games are dependent on your own and your opponents network connection. So really the only things that should go on an SSD are your OS for general speed boost and more responsiveness, your swap, and large programs that don't normally load quickly but are used often. Adobe Photoshop is a prime example, I also generally include my web browser because I prefer instantaneously accessing information. Try to keep it under 50% full, and use windows optimize (trimming(in the disk defrag applet)) at least once every week or two to extend it's lifespan.
 
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